The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-07-05
A QUEER STORY.


from many CAUSES ne may, lIuI NO
hereditary revenues are insufficient to
meet his hereditary requirements, has
not many means open to him OF sup
plying the deficiency. Laws as sacred
as those OF the Modes and Persians
forbid him to become a butcher, n
pawnbroker, or licensed victualler.
He may not even start as coal mer-
chant unless he has colieries OF his
own. Thus the more certain roads
to wealth are one and all closed to
him; and when he has looked at the
rest, he will probably find that he must
either fly in the face OF all precedent
or become one OF three things-namey,
a company promoter, a theatre
cal manager or a cab proprietor. DO
not, then, let us be hard on Hubert,
third Earl OF Doldally, ii up to tho age
OF five and thirty his lord ship had not
found any better field for the exercise
OF his undoubted abilities than sue
cession of more or less unremunera-
tive theatrical specuations.
At the same time, it must be owned
that Lord Doldally took very kindly
to this particular line OF business.
From his youth up his lordship had
,aspired to be patron OF the drama
and early in life he became known as
an habitue of those houses where
buresques and comic operas were
played. Nor was it long before he
found his way behind the scenes.
Here he made himself very agreeable.
No irequenter OF that region was more
lavish in his presents oil bouquets and
iewelry and, whether owing to his title,
his good looks or his pleasant ways,
no one found his attentions received
with greater favor. Being thus popu-
lar-at least with one-hali OF the pro.
fession-what moro natural than
that, on discovering an immediate
necessity for experimenting his exist
ing sources OF income somehow, Lord
Doldally should have started thea
tire OF his own?
Seeing what malicious world we
live 10, it is not surprising that the
kind OF life Lord Doldally adopted
exposed him to some scandal. Per-
haps he could not help it il, in his
capacities of patron and manager he
was on somewhat friendly terms with
more than one fair ornament OF the
boards. An actress is only human,
and is therefore no more to be con-
demmed for setting her cap at peer
than any maiden on the other side OF
the footlights, while, even ii she has
no matrimonial ambition, and as
pires TO nothing higher than new dress
es, diamonds or dinners at Richmond,
these, after all, are common feminine
weaknesses. Whether, however, Lord
Doldally was to blame or was merely
the innocent victim OF his personal
and hereditary attractions, the fact
remains that his competition with the
theatre gave rise to many stories not
wholly to his credit.
IL was. therefore, source OF SUI
preme ioy to that excellent woman,
the Dowager Lady Doldaly, when she
succeeded in arranging n match be-
tween her son and Miss McSeillar,
daughter OF the eminent Scotch bank
err and Nj. p, OF that name. Though
Lord Doldally had not hitherto re-
garded himself as marrying man, his
motives in asserting to this arrange
ment were not difficult to tathom. lie
was 80 years of age; the theatrical
speculations had not by any means
justified his expectations OF them,
and McSeillar's ideas on the subject OF
settlements were highly agreeable to
his son-in-law elect.
Having married and paid his debts,
the earl OF Doldally terminated his
connection with the drama for time,
and he might have done so for good
had circumstances been more iavora-
BILE. But lady Doldally was an inva-
lid and had TO spend n greater por-
ton OF her time at her house in Dew
onshire or in the south OF France.
Further. her ladyship was a rigid
PRESBYTERIAN. She regarded theatres
as the temples ofSataD. and even when
i'm London during the earlier days
of her married lite, she refused to
accompany her husband to any place
OF public entertainment. Thus Lord
Doldally, when senatorial or other
duties brought him to town, found
himself thrown very much on his own
resources. and he therefore naturally
resumed his patronage OF the drama.
Needless to say. in thus returning to
the scenes OF his younger days, he was
soon behind the scenes again, chatting
the gentlemen and flirting with tine
ladies. There were very few houses